Stakeout Discussions
by PhoebeJayScuttlebutt
Summary: On a boring stakeout, Neal reveals the reason he fell into a life crime to Diana, Jones, and Peter. Diana is forced to reconsider things she has always taken as a simple fact and the agents learn more about Neal's childhood in half an hour than they had in years before. No slash, one-shot, neglect/abuse.


**Random rat-fact! Rats' long, hairless tails that so often scares people are their main method of keeping cool. They circulate heated blood through their tail so the heat can come off more easily than from the fur-covered skin.**

**I don't own White Collar or any of the characters you recognize.**

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It had been an interesting case. It started with a master forgery that Neal was able to track back to a man that Neal had heard of, though very unfavorably. That was how it had started, but now the case couldn't be any more dull. They had figured everything out but didn't have any concrete evidence that could put Daniel Tarlson behind bars for a good few years. The only way to get that evidence is to wait until he commits another crime, which Neal hoped would be very soon. They knew where Tarlson would strike, but not when. His next target was a small art gallery that was currently displaying a relatively expensive painting by a relatively unknown artists. Really, a perfect hit. A painting that could bring in a lot of money but wasn't so hot that no one would buy it. So, they knew where Tarlson would strike and even the exact painting, but they had no idea as to when the job would be pulled. That left Neal, Diana, Jones, and Peter all stuck in the hot, stuffy little stake out van. Not where Neal wanted to spend a few minutes, let alone an hour or a whole day.

They had already spent a full day watching the building, only breaking for lunch. At night they switched off with another team who spent the night in a different stuffy little van. They talked, did the case work for mortgage frauds, drank coffee, caught up on paperwork, and did little else. Neal spent much of his time doodling in his sketchbook though he never let anyone glimpse the drawing that came to life under his pencils. It was an hour after lunch and they had settled back into complaining and chatting through their misery. Diana was discussing the case she had easily cracked in fifteen minutes. She had already sent the call out to arrest the culprit and didn't feel like starting more work.

"I just don't get why they do it. He was a rich kid, wanted for nothing, and yet he has wasted his life stealing!" Neal glanced up at Diana but his eyes soon returned to his sketch. "He's only twenty five and is now going to go to jail for at least a few years. How is that worth it?"

Jones leaned back in his chair, cracking his back over the back rest. "What difference does it make if he's rich or not? Stealing is never the way to go and it only ever gets people into more trouble. Even poor people shouldn't steal - life is hard for them, but if they work hard then they can work their way up and make money honestly."

Neal's hand stopped moving and the van was devoid of the constant background noise of pencil moving softly across paper. His eyes seemed frozen on the paper, seemingly lost in thought. A second later, when Peter sighed in agreement to Jones' statement, Neal came back to himself.

"Is that what you really think? That stealing is bad no matter the situation?"

Diana's response came without a second thought, "Of course, stealing is wrong no matter the conditions. Caffery, no matter what you can't justify forging paintings and bonds to steal thousands from people. You could have gotten a decent job and made money honestly."

Neal looked over to Peter who was observing the conflict quietly, ready to step in if he was needed.

"How can you say that there is no condition that would justify stealing when you have never been one?"

"Are you saying that you needed to forge bonds? That you at that moment you would have either died or made the forgery. Caffery, I don't think there is a situation in which a person needs to make money illegally and I certainly don't think you have ever been in a situation like that."

Neal glanced down at his hands, undecided about whether he wanted to continue the conversation. His answer was decided for him when he saw Diana's triumphant smirk. She thought she had just proved him wrong so easily.

"If I had lived by your moral code of never stealing, Diana, I assure you that I wouldn't have survived past the age of nine."

Peter started, a look of shock flying over his face. "What do you mean, Neal?"  
Neal sighed, realizing that it was probably a bad idea to bring this up. Now that he had, though, he knew that Peter would never drop it until he heard the full story. "I was born into a poor family. My mother overdosed on drugs when I was six years old and after that my father turned to drinking and gambling. When I was six I started sneaking money out of my father's wallet to buy food and pay the bills. I had been taking care of the bills even before my mother's death, it kept me occupied and out of the way, but the money was usually given to me to do it. Anyway, I realized that was a bad idea when my father noticed money missing. After that I turned to pickpocketing. Later, when I was eleven, I figured out that I could forge or copy paintings and sell them for a lot of money. So, knowing that there was no other way I could have survived my childhood, Diana, tell me if I was so wrong to steal? Should I have let myself die rather than change my morals?"

Diana had paled and her face displayed nothing but shock. "I… I didn't know, Neal. I didn't realize that happened to you…"

"It doesn't matter if you knew or not, you were saying that there isn't one situation in which it is okay to steal. Tell me if you still believe that."

"You shouldn't have had to," Diana paused, organizing her thoughts before she continued. "You could have gone to the police, told them that your father wasn't able to take care of you. He neglected you, you would have gone into a foster home. You didn't have to steal."

Neal shook his head slowly, "no, I couldn't have and even at the age of six I knew better than to try. My father was a cop and he was well liked at the station. His young son complaining of neglect would have been dismissed with laughter. The other reason I didn't tell was that when drunk, he was violent and seeing as he was drunk most days, I never wanted to risk angering him. I couldn't have told anyone without things getting worse for me."  
Peter rubbed his face with both hands, trying to hide the horror he felt at Neal's words. "Neal… Neal, are you saying that he abused you?"  
Neal's only response was to turn back to his sketchpad and start shading the page heavily, the pencil in his hands held in a white-knuckled grip.


End file.
